Ranked #13 in popularity, liberal arts general studies is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 12 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 950 bachelor's degrees in liberal arts general studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Liberal Arts General Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The liberal arts bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality liberal arts program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on liberal arts general studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of liberal arts general studies students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt liberal arts general studies students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized liberal arts general studies related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for liberal arts general studies students working on their bachelor's degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college decision.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
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It's difficult to beat DePaul University if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from DePaul University receive an earnings boost of about $39,724 above the typical earnings of liberal arts general studies graduates.
Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies has to take a look at Illinois State University. Located in the suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public university with a very large student population.
Soon after graduating, liberal arts bachelor's recipients typically earn an average of $31,745 at the beginning of their careers.
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies has to check out Western Illinois University. WIU is a medium-sized public university located in the town of Macomb.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn an average of $38,196 in the first couple years of working.
Northern Illinois University is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. NIU is a large public university located in the small suburb of Dekalb.
Soon after graduation, liberal arts bachelor's recipients typically make around $29,426 at the beginning of their careers.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
The liberal arts bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality liberal arts program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
